


the battle is coming, i've been waiting so long

by sorori



Category: Original Work
Genre: Battle, F/F, Fights, Final Battle, Identity Reveal, Storyteller narrator, War, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-08
Updated: 2019-02-08
Packaged: 2019-10-24 08:47:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17701217
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sorori/pseuds/sorori
Summary: “Where is your general?” Shikang asked, panting. “He is a coward if he does not come out to fight me.”“Here,” came the answering shout, and she was far from a coward.





	the battle is coming, i've been waiting so long

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cyphomandra](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cyphomandra/gifts).



The war had spanned almost three generations, and so taxing a strain on each country’s resources that calls came from both sides to end it. Sometimes the enmity felt like just a formality, like when couriers spread the same pieces of propaganda and gossip over and over again, or when ambassadors chanced upon each other in the lands of allies-of-allies, but there always seemed to be some incident that would cause the skirmishes and bitterness to flare up.

With all this buildup, the final battle could be summed into one descriptor: anticlimactic. Not for our part in it, of course. The empress Shikang (young for her position, or so it was said) went into battle among the front ranks, and she tore through the enemy’s ranks with the ferocity of a tiger. She roared loud enough to loose arrows of fear into the soldiers’ hearts, all the way up until she reached the flag bearer for the other army, who already had one foot towards desertion.

“Where is your general?” she asked, panting. “He is a coward if he does not come out to fight me.”

"'He' is here,” came the answering shout, and as Shikang turned around she could see the general, clad in armor but agile and fierce. She was covered in as much grime and as many wounds as Shikang herself, and she was far from a coward. In the few seconds that Shikang took to gape, the general demanded, “Well? Is there to be a fight?”

And so the two began their own battle. Their swords danced together, each parrying the other with the same strength that drove the weapon. The two, empress and general, circled around each other and sized up their opponent’s weaknesses; both found the other equally matched, but lunged forward for another try regardless. The soldiers around them, struck by the brilliance of their skill, began to lay down their own weapons and watch the fight. This effect spread until the whole battle stood still, witnessing the stuff of legend.

Yet this arduous war came to an end not by a single skillful thrust to the heart nor even a death of either one of the two. Instead, the general was simply disarmed by Shikang, her sword knocked away. A brief look of surprise appeared on Shikang’s face; it seemed that even she did not expect this result. But when she could have taken the killing blow, she did not, and instead kept her blade at the vulnerable point in neck of the general’s armor.

“Surrender,” commanded Shikang, and such was her force that even soldiers far away have said that they felt pressured to submit.

The general took a breath, in and out. Then, voice raspy, she admitted, “It looks as if I must.”

Shikang nodded, satisfied, and declared, “I will not kill you. Perhaps we will meet in negotiations.” Thus, knowing she had the entirety of both armies as her audience, Shikang spared the general’s life and ended the war.

Afterwards, Shikang was informed by her ministers that she was obliged to marry the enemy country’s princess, Liuhe, in order to solidify the peace. At first she argued with this decision, loudly. You see, Shikang had always been more of a warrior, and didn’t want to be tied to the home with a marriage. But after weeks of protest and discussion with her advisors, she came to grudging acceptance that it would be good for the people. And, given how seriously Shikang had begun to take the whole affair, the advisors also hoped it would have the effect of making Shikang less apt to disappear from her servants’ care at inconvenient times.

She did not ask for a portrait of the princess to be sent to her. The wedding to Liuhe—indeed, the political marriage of their two countries—would be set to occur very soon, especially with her delay in agreement.

Sure enough, the wedding date arrived, and the colors of the once-enemy country began to appear in the capital as festivities began. Though the crowds still regarded the foreigners with hostility, long-separated families began to reunite, and in revelry much could be looked past.

In the wedding hall, long lengths of red fabric draped from the ceiling, with small statues on either side of the path connecting opposite corners of the hall. The tables of officials and other royals were split between the countries of the empress and the princess, and though some of them glared at each other across the path, their faces softened as the ceremonial horn sounded from the front of the room. A marriage was a momentous event, after all, even if it also had to bear the function of being a seal on the peace treaty.

“The empress!” announced the hornblower. Another horn was blown from the opposite side of the room, and the answering call came: “The princess!”

Liuhe wore a veil, Shikang a headdress, in the fashion of their respective countries. They took measured steps from their corners of the hall down the path, and each one dazzled in her own right. 

Finally, they met in the middle of the hall, barely the length of one pace away from each other. Shikang reached out to lift Liuhe’s veil, did so—then froze. A pause, with visible shock on Shikang’s face.

“Liuhe?” Shikang demanded, whirling around but stopping to fix her gaze on Liuhe’s face, for this was the general who had put up a worthy fight, the general whose life Shikang had spared. “You— _General_ Liuhe?”

“Did you think you were the only member of royalty to enter the battlefield?” Liuhe asked, smoothly covering a small smile on her face with her free hand.

“No,” breathed Shikang, taking in the sight of Liuhe anew. “No, I should not have assumed.”

Liuhe gave a small dip of her head in acknowledgment, still sporting the same amused look. “Empress Shikang,” she said, “I do believe we have a wedding to complete.”

Overcoming her shock, Shikang bowed and accepted the bowl of water from the waiting attendant. Liuhe did the same. And at the end of the wedding, the empress swept the general off her feet and carried her to their chambers. Though the ceremony mandates that the marriage duties take place on the day of the wedding, I have it on good word that their duties were carried out with more relish than most. 

But this, dear listeners, is where I must bow out of the telling, and leave to your imagination, for the night is still long ahead. I have more villages yet to visit, and more stories to tell them, too.

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's Day, Cyphomandra! In searching your username, I've just found out that it's the general classification including nightshade and now I wish I'd done something clever with that. Maybe one day!


End file.
